Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns What's the Belgian A5 market like these days?

My father died a few days ago and I'm trying to help mom get the guns sorted out. What's the market like for these shotguns nowadays? There's a pristine round knob light 12 with a 28" modified barrel, a pretty good but shooter light 12 with a 26" modifed barrel, an excellent sweet 16 with a plain 28" modified barrel, and an excellent round knob, blond 20 with a 28" modified barrel.

Any ideas?

My condolences to you on the passing of your Father.

The Sweet 16 and the 20 ga are going to be far more valuable than the 12 gauge guns. There is one large dealer around here and many smaller ones with plenty of excellent, used 2-3/4" 12 gauges in stock - they just seem to move slowly in today's world (everyone wants to buy a 3" or 3-1/2" in a 12 gauge). The best thing to do is look over GunBroker and GunAuction to see what the guns are selling for. I regularly see nice Belgian's in 12GA for under $1000.00, but I never seen a Sweet 16 or Belgian 20 for less than $1,200.00, sometimes quite a bit higher if pristine.

I am very sorry for you loss. I buy and sell my fair share of older firearms, some with hopes that my grandchildren will shoot them one day but I understand that's not how it will always work. You will do the best on them by posting them with photos on a site like this. Maybe include a lot price if you want them to go quick. You will not do well if you take them to a local gun store (300-400 per gun) Shipping of long guns is super easy to an FFL.

-Elijah

Yes, I'll likely offer them here as local shops are not the place to sell such things. I live in rifle country these days and have been kind of out of touch with the shotgun scene. I appreciate you fellows responding.

The sweet sixteen will be your huckleberry, don't waste it.

I'm sorry to hear about your fathers passing, good luck to you and your mom.

Sorry to hear of your Dad's passing. Belgian A-5's are desirable, and as was already stated, especially in 16 and 20.

You might consider listing on an auction site like Gunbroker with a reserve that gets what you can live with knowing they may bring more than the reserve. There is also Guns International, a gun listing site where you set the price more like a classified ad. These sites do reach a very broad audience.

If you like semi autos the Sweet 16 is a winner.

Loss of a Dad is tough. Sorry to hear it and hope all are carrying on as he'd wish.

I watch these guns a lot. I think they're highly underrated performers in the field and as noted the Sweet Sixteen and Light Twenty are tremendous upland guns.

Condition is everything as always. A VR barrel makes a crazy difference in value here as well. Your PB shotguns may bring 3-500 less than a VR barrel. And so I differ with Odessa on that. PB A-5's in any gauge/configuration routinely trade for less than 1000 in this market.

BLin SD is correct at least in my local market. I see nice light 12 s with VR bbls for $750-$800. I bought my sweet 16 in 98% condition with a pb for $750 but that was a pretty good deal. The 16s and light 20s with vent ribs will bring into the $1000 range. Around here the later Japanese LGS s with tubes bring another$200-250 because of the tubes and they are steel rated. Sorry about your Dad. I think you'll find they aren't too far away. Mine has been gone for 15 yrs but occasionally something will happen and I react in a way that I have to laugh as I realize "I know where that came from ". I hope you have that experience.

Sorry for your loss. My dad is still with us but his hunting days are behind him. Dad hunted a Belgium Light Twelve and Sweet Sixteen and they seemed magical to me as a kid. Unfortunately his shotguns were stolen in a home burglary. I've owned a few A5's here and there but always traded them eventually. A few years ago I got serious about finding a good one to keep and pass on to my son. I bought a minty 1968 Belgium 20 gauge vent rib 28" modified from a poster here on the 24hr. classifieds and love it.

The comments about the vent rib bringing more money is accurate in my neck of the woods. Truthfully, the plain barrel is lighter and probably points quicker. A plain barrel 20 or 16 gauge with a 26" or 28" barrel weighs between 6.5 - 6.75 lbs and points very well. But the vent rib looks nice and brings more money. My 20 gauge 28" vent rib weighs 6 lbs. 11 ounces and handles nicely.

Thanks for the replies men. I'm hanging on to three of his 16s: the VR mod sweet 16, a citori lighting, and a Savage Fox B-ST two barrel set. Maybe I'll post pics.

12 ga Belgian A5's in reasonable condition will run +/- $800 used. And, around $1200-1500 in collectible condition.

Replacement barrels aren't cheap either.